What do you believe in?

[Vivaldi Ives]

I made this poll to see what supernatural/spiritual/otherwise special beings and abilities AVENites believe in. Others have made religion polls, but these beliefs may or may not have to do with a person's religious leaning. Please expand on your answers as you see fit.

I believe in the Christian Trinity (God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit), angels, demons, Satan, prophets, and saints (though I don't pray to saints).

I believe in prayer, meditation (depending on the definition), and dream interpretation (to a degree--I don't think EVERY dream has to have a meaning). I also believe there is power in Christian rituals such as Holy Communion, baptism, and hymn singing.

I don't want to start any arguments, just encourage discussion of beliefs.

[iamphoenixfire]

um, is the second question supposed to be only a one answer option?

[Vivaldi Ives]

um, is the second question supposed to be only a one answer option?

Fixed it!

[Anime Pancake]

Very very cool poll

[Nanook]

There needs to be a none or nothing option.

I believe in none of the above.

[Vivaldi Ives]

Whoops. There is now a "none of the above" option.

[Guest]

God, angels, aliens (the latter just in the sense of "just about guaranteed to be somewhere out there in this freaking huge universe"; I do consider it astronomically (heh) unlikely that alien races ever actually visited us);

Prayer, meditation, energy fields, dream interpretation, other (Tarot).

I'm pretty much "hardcore agnostic"on most of the other stuff... there's not much I'd completely rule out, even when I don't actively believe in it, but I'm skeptical due to being aware of the huge number of hoaxes out there. *shrug*

[trumpetchick]

It was a bit difficult for me to answer the first question, since I believe some of those things once existed but don't really anymore. Such as prophets.

[Guest]

The only thing I 'believe in' is aliens. I mean, seriously. What a waste of space if we, on earth, are the only living beings in the entire universe :P

[marki]

None and none!

[JAKQ7111]

I believe in aliens in the sense that there must be life on other planets, even if that life is not 'intelligent' and developed civilization. If I'm not mistaken, astronauts have collected samples of fossilized or frozen organisms on Mars, and some on one of Jupiter's moons. Those count as aliens to me.

As for the second question, I believe in meditation as a means of relaxation, stress relief, and self-discipline. I also believe in some degree of dream interpretation, in the sense that we collect information throughout the day, and can sometimes digest it through dreams (Consolidation Theory of Dreaming). Another theory that holds merit is the Activation-Synthesis theory, which leaves no room for the possibility of dream interpretation, as it says that dreams are simply the visual representation of the brain firing randomly during REM sleep, and piecing it together in a dream. I'm not sure which holds more merit, so I'm really in neither camp, and both.

[Guest]

1) Aliens

2) None of the above

But bear in mind that my definition of aliens is "any lifeform that prospered on a planet other than Earth", not "green humanoid beings with five eyes". :P

[tommy92]

1) Aliens

2) None of the above

But bear in mind that my definition of aliens is "any lifeform that prospered on a planet other than Earth", not "green humanoid beings with five eyes". :P

Pretty much the same, nothing to add^^

[A Taste of Harmony]

-Alternate reality. (I have no idea how it works, but it sounds exciting!) :D

-Other.

Strong will or repetitive thinking that lead you into action kind.

[poindexter]

I put "none" and "Other". I don't really BELIEVE in any of those practices, but I think they can positively affect people's lives in many ways, so I can understand why people would believe in them - not because, for example, when you pray God actually reaches down and touches your life in some way, but because it puts you in a better mind-set to deal with a situation, reduces stress and makes you feel happier.

[ponz]

I wouldn't say I'm religious, but I kinda go with the Shinto belief that everything has its own kami or spirit.

I do believe in Reiki, but not to an extent that I'd feel compelled to argue its reality. Same goes for souls, chakra and the kami.

I believe in having Shinto shrines and respecting all the kami.

I'm not sure if these are spiritual, but I also believe in fate and karma.

[Mad]

Aliens! ^_^

[gypsy_princess]

i don't believe in anything, but sometimes i pretend some of these beings exist. even though i believe they're not real. i mean, my rational part tells me "obviously they don't exist", but my imaginative part (you know i live in my own made-up world :D) tells me "well... life would be more interesting if vampires, witches, magical creatures existed. so... let's pretend they exist".

i don't believe in alien and ghosts but i'm fricking scared of them somehow. really really scared. whenever i see a movie or a real life video with ghosts and aliens, i don't know what to believe.

[Vyanni Krace]

I kinda want to believe in a lot of things but I struggle to. My creative and imaginative mind is constantly at war with my logical mind. Its quite frustrating.

[MXC]

I'm Buddhist and do believe in energy. I was quite tempted in answering "sacrifices" as it does sounds so amusing!!!! :P

[littleheartsofjoy]

It interests me to see that, so far, a lot of people believe in aliens. This poll is really interesting. I believe that people can be prophets, but I wouldn't believe in them as a form of divinity over me. How I see it is that people with those abilities have gifts.

[sanremi52890]

1. God, aliens, and ghosts.

I believe in God even though I'm not remotely religious or even very spiritual-- not sure why, I just do. I believe in aliens because there must be intelligent life out there somewhere. And, I believe in ghosts, again, not really sure why. I think I saw one once but who knows.

2. Prayer, meditation, spirits, energy fields, dreams. For some reason, I have never remotely believed in astrology -- (despite being the kind of person who would believe in astrology).

[Grumpy Alien]

Other / Meditation

I believe there could be a universal power and technically, I believe in Jesus' existence, just as I believe many other prophets existed and believed what they preached. I just don't believe they were anything other than human.

[iamphoenixfire]

I kinda want to believe in a lot of things but I struggle to. My creative and imaginative mind is constantly at war with my logical mind. Its quite frustrating.

Amen to this^^^^^^^^^ I feel the same way. I believe in God... sort of, it's very different than what most people think though... and i do believe in meditation....

[WhenSummersGone]

Ghosts mostly. I also believe in energy fields, like vibes from other people, and a little bit of Astrology (like star signs but not so much daily horoscopes). Maybe I'm just a spiritual person or something.

[the bumbling rotifer]

Ghosts, aliens, jesus christ.

I'm pretty sure jesus christ existed, I think it's likely aliens do, and I think it's possible that ghosts do, with of course a scientific explanation. I did consider choosing 'none', because I try not to 'believe' in anything. I'm a scientist.

Meditation: it's useful.

[Pulsewave]

My believe system is in a constant state of flux. You see I've spent many years delving into the mysteries of life and existence and every day my thoughts are changing. I've ping ponged many times between different beliefs as I find newer and newer information and evidence.

At this point I believe basically that.......

God does exist but he's not a biblical God, God is the universe itself and we are a part of God in a similar way that Neuron cell is a part of our brain.

I believe we are all little sparks of the consciousness that is God/the universe and we experience the creation that is life by viewing everything through a Human being and thus experiencing life as a Human.

I believe there are different levels of existence/awareness just as there are different frequencies on a radio dial, different frequencies within the electromagnetic spectrum.

To try and simplify it. I believe the universe is a type of simulation not too dissimilar to a dream, it is a creation of God and is thus a part of God just as our dreams are created by us and are a part of us. We our all God in the sense that we a tiny pieces of Gods conscious awareness experiencing itself through a more dense and limited way in order to have experiences.
So if you use a radio as an analogy. God is all the radio waves that are floating through the air, a radio tunes in to just one tiny frequency at a time, so you could for example be tuned in to 109.3fm. A human being is radio and parts of Gods consciousness is being tuned into, so this human body im inhabiting is basically tuned into 104.5fm but I call myself Ian (cos thats my name) and I am capable of developing a personality and individuality.
Once I leave this body/receiver however, I shall return to the God level of consciousness and will no longer be restricted.

[Nomad in Stasis]

I said that I believed in Ghosts, Vampires, Human/Animal combinations, other spirits, and things not listed. To explain, I believe in a being that created life. What to call this being I do not know. I believe that it created life and evolution is life's blueprint. I don't believe in what is thought of as vampires of werewolves in the fictional sense. I myself identify as a Werewolf because my mood changes based on the lunar cycle. My platonic partner is a vampire in the sense that they "feed" off of others.

[SquirrelCat]

Gods (more than one). Angels & demons (as in good and evil spirits not tangible creatures as decribed by the bible).Ghosts. Faries (In local folklore we call them Diser and they are ambiguous beings that travel with the fog. They're not like Tinkerbell or the tooth fairy). Aliens. Human/animal combinations (These are also beings that appear in local folklore, they are half creature half spirit and fall within the spirit realm. Like the owl-man and the deer-woman). Spirits not listed above (The lore contains a massive amount of spirits. Many of them vague and connected to nature, like moountain spirits and such).

I believe in meditation (it's useful). Communicating with spirits (but it's difficult and not everyone can do it). Energy field/auras. (energy is all around, so why not...) Sacrifices (Like tobacco or beer, not creepy stuff like blood or animal sacrifices.)

[trumpetchick]

Oh, and I forgot to post about what I believe. I believe in God, angels, demons, Satan, saints, and Jesus Christ. I believe prophets once existed, but not anymore - I believe things like prophecy and speaking in tongues are talents that no longer exist.